Monday, August 18, 2008

RIP - Dr. Coburn (JCU)

I heard today that Miles Coburn, one of my academic advisors at John Carroll, was killed over the weekend, while riding his bike in Geauga County. Such sad news. He was hit by an SUV on a rural road on Saturday morning.

Dr. Coburn was my advisor for my first two years of college when I was pre-med and a biology major, before I knew I wanted to major in hating college and minor in not going to classes.

He was the biology department chair for many years (he taught only 300 & 400 level classes, though I never had him as a teacher). His studies, if I remember correctly, revolved mostly around fish. He was very environmentally-conscious, even before it was considered cool. He biked, ran, and swam. I remember seeing him working out quite often in the Recplex. He was really serious about staying in shape.

He was highly respected in the university community, winning the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2003 (a VERY big deal in the world of JCU). He was always a big part of the university. He was mentioned in some way in most issues of the alumni magazine.

He's going to be missed for a long time on that campus.

**In a really strange side note, I thought of him on Saturday. Yes, really. I noticed that Canadian Olympic trampoline athlete Karen Cockburn's last name was pronounced "Coburn", and made a comment on Mel's Dirty Olympics blog post at 2:31pm. According to MSN, Dr. Coburn passed away at 2:35pm. Really freaky.

I am a friend of the Coburn Family, and I found your blog while searching the internet for references to Dr. Miles Coburn.

I have to say that your comment about "Dr. Coburn was my advisor for my first two years of college when I was pre-med and a biology major, before I knew I wanted to major in hating college and minor in not going to classes", made me crack up - a ray of humor in what has been a very sad time.

Your other supportive comments are appreciated, and I've passed along your post to members of the Coburn family, I think they will really appreciate reading that you cared enough to put your thoughts in writing.